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Sunday, December 5, 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Given that Hanukkah is traditionally celebrated with foods fried in oil, it's no wonder that Hanukkah cakes aren't terribly common. However, in honor of the occasion I've hunted down the best I could find, and then threw in some gorgeous wintry wonders, too.

The vertical cake layers are made just like a jelly roll. Bake a thin layer of cake, roll while hot, then unroll & fill. She cuts hers into strips before rolling up with the filling. The cakes on her blog are actually spirals, not concentric circles. If you want to read about it yourself, first type this word in her blog search "торта" then click to translate the blog to English. Doing it the other way around doesn't bring any results.

Jen~I was compelled to hunt through Dimitrana's site till I found out how she does the vertical layers. It's actually deceptively simple! She iced sheets of cake and rolled them around the center, adding sheets as needed. Brilliant! And the cake is another for your Sunday Sweet's category! Here's the link: http://translate.google.com/translate?client=tmpg&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdimitranas.blogspot.com%2F&langpair=bg|en

See all the things I learn from this blog? The difference between Passover and Chanukah. What will make me squee and what will induce my gag reflex. How long I can read on a daily basis before I collapse in laughter.

Okay, I get why the fried stuff...but how the heck does challah fit into that? (I'm currently being pestered for challah. I told him I'd make it for 8th night. Hopefully he won't see the fancy cookies until next week sometime. :P)

Anon 9:42, I do hope you're joking. I will give you the benefit of the doubt.

Fixer, challah is for Shabbat (the Sabbath) - that's irregardless of Chanuka, so it doesn't have to be this week. Chanuka foods are potato pancakes and jelly donnuts.

Too bad that two of the Chanuka cakes feature un-kosher menorah. (They're actually called chanukiyas - A menorah have 7 branches, a chanukiyah has 9.) The candles have to be in a straight line in order for it to be "kosher" - not for eating, obviously but to be allowed to light it according to Jewish law.

Here is the link to how Demetria does vertical layers. She basically does a jelly roll vertically on top of a thin layer of cake. Very cool!http://translate.google.com/translate?client=tmpg&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdimitranas.blogspot.com%2F&langpair=bg%7Cen

My boss is fairly observant, and when I noticed that he was not taking any time around Hanukkah, I asked about it. He said it is such a minor holiday, it's not a big deal. A friend posted a great Hanukkah explanatory link on FB and here it is... http://www.cracked.com/blog/8-questions-gentiles-love-asking-about-hanukkah/Keep the Han in Hanukkah!

Third cake from the top features cute dreidels. Too bad that they spell the letter ח instead of ה. For non readers of Hebrew - the left leg of the character that looks like a capital Pi should not be connected to the top, but have a little gap. They are two different letters. One sounds like "h", the other like you're choking on your cake. :-S

@The Hoffman Kids: Hanukkiah is a Hebrew neologism. It was coined in the late 19th century by the wife of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. As such, it's a permissible term, but the traditional name for it was indeed "Menorah" and there is nothing wrong about it. It simply describes a vessel for lighting candles, and you can find it in books of Halachah.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! All of the cakes are wonderful, but I especially like Dimitrana's and the one from Cakes by Roselyn. On the Menorah cake, is the shawl also made of edible material? Learning a lot about Jewish traditions here, a plus for a friendly blog. Thanks to all.~physicsmom

I sat at my computer with my jaw on my desk for about a minute straight at those vertical layers! How immensely cool. And the cake was gorgeous to begin with. As is the candle one. Is that a real candle on top, too?

All the cakes today are fabulous! That menorah? Wow. I am once again blown away by the talent some people have. Great post as usual.

1. Jen - thank you for doing Chanukah cakes. After scouring the supermarkets and box stores for Chanukah paraphernalia that includes more than the end of a shelf and three nearly sold out items, it is a relief to see some gorgeous stuff.

a) You eat only unleavened foods on Pesach aka Passover. Some of the best cakes are made during this time, from pavlovas to sponges to baked alaska. So shove over on that one and enjoy the fried Chanukah deliciousness.

b) It is a hey and not a chet. They outlined the top of the bottom leg in perfectly piped royal icing. Or stencil. Or who cares. It's gorgeous.

c) Jews keep kosher on one level or another throughout the denominations. :Raises hand:--> Reform Jew who keeps kosher.

d) Challah is especially made for Shabbat (the Sabbath), but is served at other celebration times, as well (the New Year, weddings, etc). If anyone's interested in a recipe, I've got nine up on my blog at the moment.

e) Speaking of which, Jen, my tag line is "Share and Enjoy." If you know the reference I will officially squee. Just sayin.

While your photos of/comments about awful cakes & cookies are guaranteed to make me laugh out loud, even when I'm feeling very blue, I have to commend you for also showing us incredibly beautiful works of confectionary.

Would fellow CW readers be aware of other's comments before posting their own? pleasie pleasie pleeease? Some are witty and fun and I always try to read them all but all those Epcots keep in the way.. :(

We're here for the fun; if we wanted a lecture we would be in College instead.

Thank you for the stunning Hanukkah cakes and winter cakes. It reminds me of how lovely winter is Or would be, if it werer *warmer*! (the skiing snowman, or Nellie's wee snow-family, and the Martha Stewart cake -- nice.)

@Herouth-- I was wondering if anyone else noticed that misspelling on the cookies. And thanks for explaining the origins of hannukiot-- I thought menorah was incorrect, too. The things one learns from reading Cake Wrecks comments :)

@Jaqui-- I can think of two things to celebrate with a winter cake. (1) my birthday, and (2) the 80 cm of snow that thwomped down on parts of my province did NOT hit my city, so I haven't had to shovel yet (pause for happy dance). (For the Americans reading, that's 4" shy of three feet. In two days. Yes, that broke a record.)

BTW, if people want to see another Hannukah related error that, since it doesn't involve cake, can't be submitted to CW but CW fans will find amusing-- check out what one New York deli used as a promotional item for Hannukah: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/food/2007/12/06/2007-12-06_balduccis_offers_ham_for_chanukah.html

Does anybody have any idea how to make the sweet acorns there's a link to? The google translation isn't particularly helpful ('Eggs are beaten with sugar and vanilievata pinch of salt foam. Sift the flour, add beaten with powdered sugar butter...'). I've tried searching for them on the internet, but no luck so far (I even tried in bulgarian, but that was even trickier than i thought it would be).

I could probably work it out from the blog, but I'd like to make them as xmas gifts, and it would just be so much easier if someone knew how to do it already!

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